Last week Microsoft chief executive officer Steve Ballmer revealed that sales of his company’s new Surface tablet computer had progressed “modestly,” suggesting people haven’t exactly rushed retailers to get their hands on one.

Here’s one possible explanation for that problem: the tablet’s WiFi reportedly doesn’t work properly.

Photo credit: Businessinsider.com

Microsoft’s Surface, which costs $499 and up, was first released in late October alongside the Windows 8 operating system. Since then, many users have taken to Microsoft technical support forums to complain that the device suffers from WiFi problems that cause movie streams, media downloads, and web-based video games to drop out.

“My connection to the wifi network frequently and repeatedly goes ‘limited’,” said one user, who added: “If I reset the connection by turning on and off airplane mode it works again, but only for a short amount of time.”

According to reports, rebooting the system can temporarily fix the issue for some users, but that’s hardly a satisfying solution to the problem. For some users, it’s clear something is wrong with Microsoft’s hardware.

“My iPad works just fine on the same network. And my wireless Xbox also works just fine. Only my new Surface has issue,” wrote another Microsoft forum commenter.

Frustratingly for users, Microsoft has yet to fully address the issue. Last week the firm did release a software update for the Windows RT operating system (which the Surface runs), but it appears the fix did nothing to address the Surface’s WiFi problems.

Overall, not exactly the best response from one of the world’s biggest companies, and a surprising position given that this is the company’s very first tablet PC.